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Where is the Random Thread of Randomness stuff that doesn't belong in other threads thread?

Volpone said:
Walking by the abandoned Wal*Mart the other day I got the idea, if I had Oprah bucks or Elon Musk bucks, I'd buy a struggling shopping mall with at least 2 stories and convert the upper level to apartments or condos.

This is already a model I've seen with malls, where they turn upper floors into professional spaces, just take it to the next level and add residential too. Electrical is already there, maybe you need to beef up the plumbing a bit but probably not a lot. You've already got a food court and movie theater--maybe even a bar or nice restaurant or two--add in a bank, dental, a clinic, optometrist, supermarket, post office, maybe a government center with police and fire, maybe a hotel. Daycare, maybe a school. Not only do you help solve the housing crisis and come up with a use for all the dead and dying malls, but it creates a--I hesitate to use the word because it sounds predatory when really it's symbiotic--a captive shopping base to help keep the shops on the main floor open. Shit, this is such a good idea I may try to pitch it to Elon Musk. Hell, not only is it win win, it feels like it should be a scalable moneymaker.
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That’s happening near where I live. There’s a Whole Foods near me topped by townhouses. I think it’s working out pretty well (the WF’s is centrally located so that’s probably convenient to residents) but I can’t imagine telling people where I live…”u know WF? Upstairs”. But isn’t that common in places like NY? IDK. We have a largely abandoned mall and they’re going to try something like that there. We never seem to have enough housing and retail shops are dropping like flies given online ordering and stuff so maybe it will work (with the right mix).
 
I do not think Bluesky will take hold. I say this with no bias. Quite the opposite. When Biden won and conservatives hated Twitter we got Parler, Gettr, Rumble, TruthSocial, and maybe a few things I didn't even notice. None of them took off. It's just really hard to beat the established player. Shit, even Facebook. I hate it so goddamn fucking much. And not so long ago MySpace was actually bigger than them. I created a MySpace page when I earnestly started hating Facebook, but MySpace sucks so goddamn much. It's a low bar to step over: suck less than Facebook, but by God, MySpace still somehow manages to trip and flop around and kick over the bar.
 
I suspect People of Wal*Mart is run by a teacher the last 2 years or so. Apparently the site only updates from June to August now.
 
As we move into the Christmas Season, I must mention how the Greatest Christmas Movie Ever, "Die Hard" is so jarring by modern standards: Guy carries a gun on a plane. Smokes in an airport. Gas prices when the cop stops for donuts. As he crawls through the ducts, he lights his way with a cigarette lighter, not his cel phone.
 
Same with Home Alone -- the movie wouldn't exist in the age of smartphones. All the conflicts within the plot would be nonexistent.
1) They wouldn't get up late for the flight because their phones would be their alarms
2) Even if they still forgot Kevin, the power outage wouldn't matter because they could call/text anyone they wanted on their smartphones
3) The burglars would have been caught ages ago by cameras and remote apps
 
One of the weird things about getting older when you've lived a full life is you sometimes can't believe you actually did things. Tiling a bathroom floor and tub surround. Pouring a concrete slab. Making wine. I had plum trees back in Oregon so every year I made a dozen bottles of wine and enough plum butter to last a year (with plenty to give as gifts). This year I discovered the little tree next to my driveway makes little, cherry-sized apples, so I made apple butter. The stuff sat in plastic tubs in the fridge for a couple weeks because I had canning stuff in the basement but no longer had any idea how to can. For that matter, my friend is supposed to be hiring me to work on Alteryx and it may surprise him that, although I did that for him for about a year previously, I have no idea how to work on Alteryx.
 
There's this fishing pond, up in the woods, that I used to take my old dog to. The new dog isn't as excited to ride in a car and is just as happy to stay local where she can hunt groundhogs so we don't go there as often. The last time I went there I was shocked to find that they'd spent a lot of money to, in my opinion, ruin it. They cut back a lot of the trees surrounding the pond and added big wide concrete sidewalks on 3 sides that replaced the twisty dirt trail. I mentioned it to some people I met and they pointed out that it now made the park more handicapped accessible and I suppose they have a point but I feel a bit like it's cutting your nose off to spite your face. Cutting down all the trees and putting in huge sidewalks kind of takes away the entire point of going to the woods. I wish I'd have taken a picture when I was there. I guess I should go back to take a picture but that's really the only reason to go. They ruined what was a nice little Sunday afternoon walk. Oh well, I guess the hiking trails up in the hills are untouched. And anyway, the last time I went the dog just wanted to walk down the road instead. That's the problem with dogs. You try to take them somewhere and first they spend 5 minutes smelling everything in the parking lot and then they skip what you actually brought them for and instead want to walk along the nearest road.
 
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